


Loose Shingles

by satan_copilots_my_tardis



Series: Signal Flares [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: F/F, M/M, Older!Dipper, Older!Mabel, Stan and Bill snipping at each other, brief descriptions of violence, demonic flirting, falling in love with demons, romantic things start when Dippers still 17 so technically underage in some states
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 19:59:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3622383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/satan_copilots_my_tardis/pseuds/satan_copilots_my_tardis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That night he notices Mabel and Pacifica sitting beside one another, hand in hand, as the explosions light up the sky while he sits, with a small demonic triangle on his shoulder, feeling at peace once again.</p><p>How Dipper (quite literally) falls into a demon’s arms, and all the slip ups along the way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loose Shingles

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so here it is, how those two dorks fell in love. Also please note that at this point in the story Not What He Seems has not happened yet. Eventually I will bring that in and all the events of that episode will unfold just later in the twins lives. Additionally the Latin I used came straight from some random internet source so it's probably not perfect and the translations will be at the end of the story, enjoy.

Dipper tries not to think about Bill Cipher between the demon’s sparse appearances during the first two summers they spend in Gravity Falls. It doesn’t do him any good worrying about what the demon is up to when he doesn’t have nearly enough information or enough power to fight against him if push comes to shove. So he smashes down the tingling feeling that creeps across his neck when he hears Bill’s voice in his head.

_I’ll be watching you._

He knows better than to worry but when the dream demon starts to appear weekly the summer he and Mabel are fifteen he becomes increasingly wary. It doesn’t matter where he is or what he’s doing the world will suddenly bleed into black and white and Bill will find some kind of new and terrifying place to pop out of and make a pest of himself. It happens so often in the bathroom Dipper has become a speed pee-er and baither. Though today the demon finds him sitting on the roof, flipping through the journal at a leisurely pace. Mabel is downstairs with Candy and Grenda squealing over their latest target and Stan is probably watching TV since the Shack is closed for the day so they could all take some much needed time off. Dipper had considered going out and looking for more clues as to who the Author was but for once he feels content just sitting out in the sun. That is until the sky goes dark. Dipper doesn’t have the energy to act surprised.

“What do you want, Bill?”

“Aw no screaming this time, kid? I gotta say i’m disappointed, I love the way you scream, Pine Tree.” Bill materializes from his page in the journal, floating all too close to Dipper’s face and causing the human to jerk back.

“If you just wanted to hear me scream you should get lost.” He huffs and turns back to his book.

“Aw come on, Dipping Dot, don’t be like that especially since I came here to tell you some exciting news.” He tries not to perk up at that but he’s never been very good at containing his curiosity.

“What news?” Bill practically flips in the air when the kid takes interest, his joy palpable.

“That’s the spirit! How would you feel about going to see this seasons fairies being born?” Dipper doesn’t know quite how to respond to that question so he sits in silence as the demon speaks.

Which is how the entire gang ends up camping out in the middle of the forest that night just waiting for something to happen. Dipper can feel his Grunkle glaring at the back of his head and Mabel glancing at him with increasing worry. Stan is pretty close to furious at finding out they’d been lured out in the middle of the night by a demon Dipper knows he’s not supposed to trust but the old man hasn’t started to chew him out, yet, so Dipper focuses his attention on the trees.

“Are you sure this is the place, little dude?” Soos asks, breaking the tense silence.

“Yeah, Bill,” he feels Stan’s glare intensify, “Was very specific about where to go.”

“Well then we’ll just have to wait!” Mabel says cheerfully, grabbing Dipper’s arm and forcing him to sit on the blanket she’s spread out on the forest floor. When he’d told her about his conversation with Bill earlier he’d seen the hesitation on her face, but she’s been nothing but supportive of this endeavor, even if his information came from a shady source.

“Thanks.” He murmurs under his breath and bumps their shoulders together.

“No problem bro.” She bumps back. “Besides it looks like you were right.” She points to the trees and there are small blossoms glowing in the canopy of leaves. The flowers shimmer in the darkness and continue growing until they reach the size of a tennis ball before the petals peel open and reveal the tiny fae inside. It’s breathtaking and the entire group is silent with awe. Towards the end of the night, while the newly born fae are fluttering through the trees, Dipper briefly thinks that he’s going to have to thank Bill because this is an experience he wouldn’t trade for anything.

* * *

 

After the night they watch the fairies Bill starts turning up even more frequently, in the middle of an adventure, while Dipper’s showering, while _Mabel’s_ showering, which was a lot more traumatic for her than it had been for him, and after a month of healthy distrust somehow the demon works himself into the fabric of their lives.

“Who wants a burger?” Stan calls from the side of the yard where the gill is smoldering away.

“Me!” The twins say together from where they’re sitting at the picnic table. The sun shines brightly above them as they set the table. Stan grumbles to himself as he cooks, shouting when the fire flares up blue and smashing the lid onto the grill. He turns with a snarl to address the demon who’s turned the world black and white.

“What’s the big idea, Cipher?!” Bill just laughs in response.

“Oh lighten up, Stanford, no one’s hurt, yet.” His voice becomes deep and otherworldly on the last word which makes the entire Pines family tense. “But seriously, Stanford, I need to borrow the runts.”

“Not gonna happen.” Their Grunkle has become fiercely protective over the past couple of weeks, making a point of arguing with Bill every time he appears and keeping a keen eye on whatever shenanigans that the twins get up to with him. It would be endearing if not for the fact that Dipper’s starting to think Stan doesn’t trust them with the demon, rather than just the demon himself.

“What’s up, Bill?” The triangle floats over to him and Mabel immediately ignoring Stan.

“Well today’s a special day and I wanted to give you and Shooting Star something to celebrate it.” Bill flicks his fingers and blue flames consume the entire grill, sending their Grunkle shouting for Soos to get the fire extinguisher. Bill turns his attention back to them when it appears their Grunkle is completely distracted and Dipper frowns.

“Why is today special?”He asks warily, letting Mabel take his cap and replace it was a napkin she’d folded into a hat.

“Aw you don’t remember? That hurts, Pine Tree, that really does!” Bill puts his face in his hands and sobs mockingly.

“Seriously what do you want, you evil Dorito?”

“Well I guess I’ll forgive you. I suppose no tiny human mind can possibly remember every single moment in time.” Bill goes on, completely ignoring him. “Today’s the summer solstice, Dipping Dot, and it also just happens to be the first time I met you brats.”

“Aw wow, really?” Mabel asks, trying to take Bill’s hat so she can replace it too. The demon floats just out of her reach and Dipper thinks that if he had a mouth he would be grinning. “Oh no! I guess that means we forgot our anniversary!”

“Mabel stop encouraging him.” The younger sibling mutters under his breath as he reclaims his cap.

“It’s okay, Shooting Star, and I got you two presents anyway!” A chill runs down Dipper’s spine as he remembers the last few ‘gifts’ Bill had given him. The week of nightmares and head that was always screaming immediately spring to mind.

“That’s not really fair, I mean we didn’t get you anything,” he starts nervously. “It just wouldn’t be right of us to accept a gift like that.”

“You’re too kind, Pine Tree, but I want you two to have them. I wouldn’t give them to anyone else.” There’s something startlingly genuine in the demon’s tone. The stark absence of his jokes creates tension in the air and at this point Mabel has stopped trying to lighten the mood and glances at her brother out of the corner of her eye. “Now, for Shooting Star,” Bill snaps his fingers and a pale crown materializes in Mabel’s hands. It appears to be made of some kind of reeds woven together and twisted into the shape of flowers. “A crown made of deer intestines,” he doesn’t even pause as Mabel’s skin turns ashen, “and a necklace for Pine Tree.” Bill snaps again and Dipper is holding a chain of thirty-two teeth, which he immediately suspects came from the same deer.

“You shouldn’t have.” Mabel tries to smile but it melts off her face as she examines the grotesque creation.

“I know, but I just thought that it felt like we were turning a new leaf this summer and I thought we should commemorate that.” Bill’s voice is overly chipper but both twins detect a note of sincerity and glance at each other. They communicate silently for a moment, both concerned and slightly disgusted with their gifts but unwilling to just disregard them completely. Mabel makes the first move by turning back to the villain.

“Thanks Bill, this was really thoughtful.” She clenches her teeth and deposits the twisted crown on her head. Afterwards she turns to her brother with a glare promising death if he makes her suffer alone. Reluctantly he opens the clasp and secures it around his neck, feeling the cool press of the teeth against the hollow of his throat. Bill flares brightly once and Dipper thinks it’s to show his enthusiasm.

“So how did you even get the intestines to look like that?”

“Magic, kid.”

“That’s not a good answer.” Mabel whines and Bill relents with hands held up in front of himself.

“Oh okay, it was pretty similar to how you humans make gut strings for instruments, only with magic.” The siblings are too busy inquiring about their new tokens to notice that the world returns to color with the demon still floating above them.

* * *

 

Getting on the bus at the end of the summer never gets any easier. It’s pretty consistently horrible and Dipper always feels like the moment he steps on the bus the mysterious bubble-that keeps Gravity Falls untouched by the outside world and all the stranger for it-will pop and all of the answers that he’s been searching for, all the friends that he’s made, will just be gone with it. Stan always pretends that he’s not upset to see them go and they all act like they don’t notice his eyes misting over and his voice wavering at the end of his speech. Wendy hugs them too tightly with her inherited lumberjack strength while Soos cries and hugs them just the right amount and Candy and Grenda whine about how Mabel won’t be able to see all the back-to-school heartthrobs. The farewell group has stayed pretty consistent over the past few years but now there’s a new addition. Bill floats off to the side while all the humans say their piece. It’s almost easy for Dipper to forget he’s even there with how unnaturally quiet he’s being. But as the group hears the bus rolling towards them the demon finally approaches.

“You’re gonna be bored out there, kid.” He says. Dipper shrugs, he knows that already. Normal society hasn’t been able to keep him interested since he was twelve. Normal society has too many problems, too many atrocities, too many monsters that can’t be stopped. At least the monsters here are fantastical and at least the problems they cause have fantastical solutions. That’s the kind of conflict he wants in his life.

“I guess we’ll see you next year..?” He shifts uncomfortably as he waits for an answer.

“You betcha, kid!” Bill’s enthusiasm helps to lessen the somber atmosphere. “And don’t forget, Pine Tree, I’ll be watching!” The familiar phrase sends an unwarranted warmth spreading in his gut and he turns towards the approaching bus so that no one sees his smile.

* * *

 

He’s sixteen when he decides to get his first tattoo. Mabel comes with him, rapidly bouncing between fascinated with the various photos of the artist’s work and terrified that one of them will faint when the needles come out. Dipper holds her hand in part to get her to stop running around and to reassure himself. It had taken two months after they’d returned home in order to get his parent’s consent and even longer to make his decision on what to get. Eventually he’d sat down with Mabel and she helped him design a sleeve, starting with the cover of the journal, the six fingered hand and number three, which he’s getting on the inside of his wrist. The artist preps him, warns him that it will be painful and to try not to move. He grits his teeth and waits.

It hurts, not like that’s a surprise, but it does. Not as much as being torn from his physical body and thrust into the Mindscape though so he handles it. He handles it surprisingly well. It only takes half an hour for the woman to finish, and soon he’s looking down at precise black lines that stand out starkly against his inflamed skin.

“Wow.” Mabel breaths and Dipper can hardly pay attention to the woman’s instructions for aftercare because he too is fascinated with the new mark on his skin. He pays and gives the artist a hefty tip as they leave the parlor and by this point Mabel has regained enough of her voice to start asking a hundred questions a minute. “How badly did it hurt? Do you like it? Why did you decide to get the hand first?” She’s intent on continuing, but her brother’s soft voice snaps her out of it.

“I want another.” The sweater enthusiast pauses.

“Well I already knew that bro bro.”

“I’m gonna get the next before we go back.” He clarifies, gently running a finger over the stark white bandages.

“Which one are you gonna get?”

“The circle.” Mabel goes silent. They’d talked about including Bill’s summoning circle in the design but the idea of marking himself with the demon’s image had felt too sketchy at the time. It’s still an uncomfortable notion that tugs on his gut but… he can’t explain the fluttering of excitement. His eagerness to see Bill’s reaction, to poke a bear with a stick so to speak. Then again in some ways he supposes that he’s always been an adrenaline junkie.

* * *

 

He gets a total of four tattoos before they’re driving, on their own for the first time, back to Gravity Falls that May. The hand on his wrist, the summoning circle on his forearm, Gravity Falls written in the author’s code banded just above his wrist framing the original hand, and the plain outline of his customary pine tree surrounded by a circle of black ink. For the last leg of the drive he shifts his grip on the steering wheel every couple of minutes, glancing at his covered arm, and glaring out the windshield. He knows Mabel has noticed his worry but she kindly doesn’t bring it up. She begins to chatter away about what they’re going to do when they get back once they're about an hour away from the town line. First, obviously, they’re going to set off a couple of rounds of illegal fireworks, then they’re going to eat enough pizza to make themselves sick and catch up with the gang, before finally ending up having a mass sleepover in front of the Shack, so that he and Mabel can see the stars for the first time in a year. Dipper smiles, in spite of his nervousness.

When they arrive at the Shack twenty minutes later the gang has already assembled out front. Soos is holding party poppers and wildly blowing into a noisemaker. Wendy, wearing a Gravity Falls Community College tee-shirt under her customary flannel button-down, is waving and grinning at them from up the drive while Grunkle Stan is scowling at the mess of teenagers lingering on his porch. Candy and Grenda are bouncing up and down together making such high-pitched squeals Dipper thinks it’s a good thing that there aren’t any dogs around.

“Hey dudes!” Soos says as soon as they’re out of the car. Candy and Grenda bound over and wrap Mabel in a hug all three now squealing together and talking a hundred miles a minute. Soos and Wendy take turns embracing each of the twins and Grunkle Stan claps Dipper on his shoulder and ruffles his grand niece’s hair as they all head into the backyard.

The sun is starting to go down half an hour after they arrive and the entire group is eagerly awaiting the box of fireworks that Stan is retrieving from the upstairs closet. The night air is hot and heavy with humidity and Dipper finally decides it’s too warm for him to continue wearing his sweatshirt. He has no idea how Mabel wears sweaters day after day in this heat without dying. Maybe he’ll add that to the list of mysteries to be investigated this summer.

“So what did you guys get up to while we were gone?” Dipper asks Wendy and Soos as he brings each of them a soda.

“Oh man, you would have loved it.” Wendy begins grinning, “There was this huge increase in the giant vampire bat population and they totally came after the entire campus during a kegger! It was awful, there were drunk students everywhere and every time a bat drank from them they got wasted. Soos, Bill, and I spent three hours playing DD to a bunch of bats, oh I wish you had been there.” Dipper laughs for a moment.

“That sounds exciting.” He pauses. “Did you say Bill was helping?”

“Well I wouldn’t exactly say helping , little dude, he was mostly just laughing and occasionally levitating bats to the car.” Soos says as he pulls open a bag of chips.

“Has he been around a lot?” The notion that the demon has been hanging around even after they’d left makes him slightly uncomfortable, though he’s not entirely sure why. He scratches at the marks on his skin.

“Dude, you got in inked!” Wendy says, reaching out to grab his arm and bring it into the dim lamplight to inspect it. “Woah.”

“So cool, dude.” The two older workers inspect the marks for a few minutes.

“Why’d you get Bill on your arm?” Wendy finally asks and Dipper’s prepared for this question long enough that he doesn’t go bright red.

“Well every now and then we need to get in contact with him during a pinch and we can’t without doing a proper summoning. I’m hoping that this will cut down on the time it takes to contact him.”

“Does it work?” Dipper goes still when he hears his Grunkle’s voice coming from over his shoulder.

“I uh, I haven’t tried it yet.” He mutters. Stan watches him for a long moment before shrugging.

“No time like the present, kid. Everyone’s already here anyway.” The younger man can’t conceal his shock. His brain takes a minute to reboot before he can reply.

“Uh, okay, I’ll go give it a shot.” He sets down his drink and heads inside to retrieve the journal still tucked away in his pack. Dipper flips to Bill’s page and glances over the Latin verse before he begins to chant. Mabel and Soos had told him what it had looked like when Gideon had summoned Bill when they were twelve, so he looks around the room as he recites the incantation, expecting to see time stop or the world bleed to black and white but as he completes the ritual the room remains frustratingly unchanged. “Bill?” He looks around for any sign of the demon and finds none. It’s hard to keep the disappointment off his face when he realizes that the tattoo isn’t physical enough to act as the summoning conduite. Still, he decides as he heads back outside, he likes the way the mark looks on his skin even if it’s only there for aesthetic purposes.

“Dipper!” Mabel bounds over to him with obvious excitement.

“Guess who came?” Hope tingles up from the mark on his arm.

“Who?” She grins and points over the shoulder where Dipper notes, with some annoyance, that Pacifica is talking with Wendy.

“I didn’t know you invited her.” His sister’s face falls at his tone and he instantly feels guilty.

“Come on Dipper, she hasn’t been so bad these last couple of years. Besides,” Her voice lowers and she scuffs the toe of her tennis shoe in the dirt. “I’m starting to really like her.”

“Oh fine, I’ll go say hi.” Mabel squeals and hugs him too tightly around the throat before bouncing away. “Oh yeah, Bill is helping Stan set up the fireworks in the side yard!” His stomach gives a little flip at that and he rushes over to greet Pacifica.

“Hey.” The blonde glances at him, sighs, then puts on a false smile and turns to face him.

“Hello, Dipper.” Tension rises in the air though he’s not entirely sure why. They’ve never gotten along but there seems to be a raw hostility in the girl that he’s never seen in something that wasn’t actively trying to kill him.

“Uh, how have you been?”

“Well enough. And you?”

“Uh, well, uh pretty good I guess.” He desperately searches for small talk.

“Okay that’s enough.” Pacifica grabs him by the elbow and directs him into the treeline, her fingers biting into his skin with enough force to bruise. He’s startled when she leads him into the dark and turns to him with fire in her eyes. “You need to stop whatever it is you’re doing.”

“Wha-? What? What are you talking about?”

“Just listen to me. Whatever is going on with you, I could care less, the tattoos, the growth spurt, the sudden hotness? Whooptie Doo.” Dipper is flabbergasted and just lets the petite blond snarl at him. “You challenge the puberty gods and you won, big fucking deal. But whatever you’re doing that’s making Mabel so afraid, you need to stop it. Now. I thought you cared about her, I thought you would support her no matter how much you disliked me.”

“What? Pacifica, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The blonde scoffs.

“That doesn’t even surprise me. Well if you care about your sister then maybe you should take a few minutes, pull your head out of your ass, and figure it out, mystery hunter.” She stalks off, somehow elegantly in her high heeled boots across the uneven ground, like a demon through fire and Dipper is left, frustrated and confused, watching as she goes.

What had she been talking about? He ponders the question as he walks around to the side yard to find Stan and Bill snipping at each other as Stan sets up the fireworks.

“I’m just saying Stanford that if you let me help we’d have a much bigger spectacle on our hands.” Stan’s hands are shaking as Dipper watches him place another explosive.

“I’m not willingly letting you get anywhere near something so dangerous, ever.” He glares up at the triangle. “Ever, Ciper. Do I make myself clear?”

“Crystal.” Bill’s body goes briefly see-through. “It’s too bad though. Ah well, it’ll still be one heck of a show when you’re done.”

“Hey.” Dipper says as he walks over, both men looking at him upon his approach.

“Hey there Pine Tree! It’s good to have you back, kid!” Bill circles him excitedly. “I’d ask if you missed me but clearly the answer is yes!” He points to the tattooed image of himself with his cane.

“I just thought that it might help us summon you quicker if we need you.” Dipper almost wants to cover up his skin, feeling suddenly naked under the demon’s watchful eye. “But I tried earlier and I don’t think it worked.”

“Not in the slightest kid, never even knew you were calling me.” Bill taps Dipper’s nose with his cane. “Or I would have been here sooner.” Stan makes a disgusted noise from where he’s working.

“Keep an eye on him, I’m going to get the lighters.” The old man grumbles before heading around the side of the house. Dipper and Bill are quiet for a moment as they listen to Stan’s retreating footsteps and the sounds of the party out back. The teenager searches for something to say to the demon, and immediately dismissing all small talk options as ludicrous. He shrugs and decides to just jump back into it.

“Hey I just got yelled at by Pacifica, I don’t suppose you know what that was all about?”

“Course I do, kid, want a hint?” Images begin projecting over his body without warning.

The first is from October. Dipper notes Mabel’s orange and black sweater as she rejects a handful of dates from various kids at their school before the scene changes. Mabel sitting in their living room on Skype with Pacifica. They’re both smiling. The image changes again to earlier that day. Mabel sitting next to him in the car, looking worriedly at him, opening her mouth a few times, and then turning back to look out the window, chewing on a strand of her hair. The slideshow ends, flickering dimly, with Mabel kicking the dirt at her feet, just a few minutes ago as she asks him to go greet Pacifica.

“Pretty obvious now after seeing it all lined up for you, huh, Pine Tree?” It’s not an exaggeration when Dipper murmurs,

“Painfully.” Before heading back to the party. “I’ll talk to you later.” Bill doesn’t say anything as he goes to search for his sister. He doesn’t manage to get her alone until the party is winding down and Mabel’s gone inside to retrieve her sleeping bag. He wander up to their shared room, still shared after all these years, and a dark voice whispers _codependent_ in the back of his mind. She’s buzzing around the small space with a smile as she gathers her things. Dipper notices the weightlessness with which she moves, the spring in her step he hadn’t even noticed was missing and feels foolish. She’s his sister, his best friend, and he should have noticed there was something wrong earlier.

“Hey Mabel?” She turns to look at him and her smile falls slightly.

“Hey bro bro. What’s up?”

“Is there something that you wanted to talk about?” He moves into the room and sits on his bed, watching her reaction carefully. “You were really quiet on the ride back.” Mabel’s smile melts completely away and she picks up a lock of hair and begins to bring it to her mouth. “Don’t do that, you’re gonna give yourself split ends.” He says gently, reaching to grab her wrist. She lets him pull her over to the bed and sits down beside him. They both stare at the floorboards like they’re the most interesting thing in the room. “Pacifica told me I was being an ass earlier.”

“What? She did?” Mabel’s voice warbles with her distress.

“Well she said that I had my head up my ass more specifically, but I’m paraphrasing. Anyway, I think she’s right. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own,” he gestures inarticulately, not knowing exactly what he’s been so focused on, “stuff, that I didn’t even realize that there was something going on with you.” They sit in silence for a moment.

“I’m dating Pacifica.” Mabel finally confesses in a small voice.

“I’m happy for you.” He squeezes her hand and after a second of hesitation she squeezes back. “I didn’t know you liked girls, to be honest.”

“It’s not really just girls.” She smiles at him but its weak. “Or boys. I’m pansexual.”

“I’m glad you told me, and sorry I wasn’t paying enough attention to notice earlier.”

“It’s okay, I know you’ve got a lot on your mind bro bro.”

“Awkward sibling hug?”

“Awkward sibling hug.” They embrace each other tightly and stay that way for several minutes until their Grunkle is yelling that the fireworks show is about to start. That night he notices Mabel and Pacifica sitting beside one another, hand in hand, as the explosions light up the sky while he sits, with a small demonic triangle on his shoulder, feeling at peace once again.

* * *

 

The summer progresses fairly normally from that point. Dipper deals with a handful of hauntings on his own while Mabel is out with her friends, Bill occasionally tagging along and getting in his way. And then Dipper is working in the shop and Bill’s appearing, hanging around like a logo on his tee-shirt, to bother him while he’s selling tacky knickknacks to tourists. Then he’s at family meals, and movie nights, and fishing trips. Bill is with him almost twenty-four/seven and he doesn’t even notice when it stops being strange. The demon is the perfect mixture of helpful and mysterious, encouraging Dipper to find answers on his own and never revealing enough about himself for the teenager to figure out his motives. It’s just the right kind of maddening that made Dipper fall in love with the town in the first place.

However the morning he wakes up, mid-July, and is able to brush his teeth, bathe, and dress in privacy sends alarm bells ringing in the back of his mind. Bill loves startling him in the early morning, before Dipper’s awake enough to be expecting it, and Dipper doesn’t think he’s had a morning alone in weeks. Cautiously he creeps down the stairs on the early Tuesday morning. He hears Stan still snoring away since the Shack isn’t open on Tuesdays, he remembers his Grunkle’s annoyed outburst when he’s made the decision, ‘No one takes a vacation starting on Tuesday anyway!’ before stomping back into the house. Mabel wasn’t in bed when he’d woken up but that was becoming less and less unusual. Between the nights she spent with Candy and Grenda or Pacifica Mabel had hardly slept in her own bed the entire summer, though she spent the majority of her days with him. He walks into the kitchen and spots Waddles staring out the door, whining softly.

“No, no, no, Shooting Star, it’s devora-bit, not dev-orbit. Try again, and focus.” Dipper immediately recognizes Bills voice and notes that he could only be speaking to Mabel. He pats Waddles on the head as he moves past to see what the two are getting up to.

“Flammas devorabit!” Mabel says forcefully as she stands stock still in the center of the backyard. A few meters away is a small watermelon which is consumed by fire as soon as Mabel finishes speaking. “It worked!” She bounces excitedly, snatching Bill’s hands up in her own and spinning him around. “ I am the God of Destruction!” Bill laughs as he escapes her hold.

“Not bad, kiddo.” He straightens his bowtie needlessly. “Your Latin isn’t even that horrible. It’s not good, but it doesn’t make me want to rip my eye out and smite you.”

“Morning.” Dipper says when he’s fairly certain that he’s not going to accidentally get set on fire for distracting the two.

“Dipper did you see that? Bill’s teaching me magic!”

“I saw, that was amazing, Mabel.” She grins but Dipper notices the flush in her cheeks and the sheen of sweat on her forehead. “Are you okay?”

“She’s fine, Dipping Sauce, this stuff isn’t easy for a mortal. Why don’t you go take a break, Shooting Star.” Mabel must be tired because she acquiesces without protest, heading inside and leaving him and Bill alone.

“When did you start teaching her this stuff?”

“A week or two ago, she’s taken to it even more quickly than I expected.” Dipper frowns.

“Why did she have to use a spell? Gideon just kind of,” He waves his hand. “ And things would move.”

“Powder Blue had an amulet, Shooting Star doesn’t. She’s gotta go straight to the root of the power if she wants to access it.”

“Why is it always Latin, there are other dead languages.”

“Sure are, but since I’m the only teacher she’s got around and Latin is my native tongue, she’s learning Latin.” Bill twirls his cane as he answers in a matter-of-fact tone. Dipper doesn’t look at him when he asks his next question.

“And why are you teaching her magic?”

“Cause she’s your sister, Pine Tree, and I know that you want her protected. With a couple of spells in her back pocket she’ll be a lot better off against some of the stuff in this town.” That stirs a fraction of warmth in his gut but he’s still frowning. “I was planning on teaching you too but you’ve been so busy with that book…” The demon shrugs. “I figured that you wouldn’t be interested.”

“I’m interested.” He flushes the minute the words are out of his mouth. Bill cackles.

“Oh we’re going to have such a good time, Pine Tree.”

* * *

 

Three weeks later Dipper and Mabel battle it out with a group of Manituars. The testosterone filled menaces had decided to rise against the Multibear who had called on their help to defend his home and they had answered his plea. Though fueled primarily by their urge to test their magic against something larger than a Summerween watermelon the twins had been thrilled to help the kindhearted beast.Unfortunately he and Mabel had been a little too zealous and their overexertion and inexperience had tampered with the weather. Now the town was graced with freak storms, sudden cold snaps, and disastrous wind gusts. Bill assured them that the weather would return to normal within the month but there has been no change as of yet and Dipper’s getting sick of staying inside. Normally this wouldn’t bother him but Bill’s recently taken to treating him as a captive audience, popping in with a disturbing array of ‘presents’, from pints of animal blood, hearts that Dipper is horrifyingly certain are human, supernatural trinkets, to a handful of memorable nightmares.

He stands in front of his fridge, looking in with exasperation at the three hearts sitting in old tupperware next to a pitcher of blood that he has no idea what to do with. He supposes he could just throw them out like Grunkle Stan and Mabel keep telling him to but…. He shuts the door, soda in hand, and sits at the kitchen table.Throwing them out just seems strangely rude for some reason, especially if the hearts really are human. He should find some way of putting them to use. Upon hearing Dipper’s declaration to use the gifts Bill had swirled around the room gleefully before flashing away briefly only to return with several worn leather-bound texts on blood magic.

Dipper flips through the second text now, yellow and wrinkled with water damage with a smear or two of gore across the hand inked pages, as he looks for any ritual that requires a human heart as an ingredient. He finds several spells, a few devotion (or love) rituals, some practices to absorb the strength of one’s enemies, a couple of curses, but nothing that he wants to enact. He notes a bloody ritual that requires the sacrifice of an innocent animal and the mutilation of fairies to take their wings in order to create an amulet like Gideon’s. It’s savage and it makes Dipper’s stomach turn. He continues to skim the gruesome tome for twenty peaceful minutes before a flash of light alerts him to Bill’s arrival.

“Hey there Pine Tree, look what I brought you!” Dipper takes a deep breath to steel himself for whatever bloody sight he’s about to behold. He stares for a long moment. His brain sputters uselessly as he stares at the latest offering. The scholar opens his mouth to say something but he can smell the present which makes him close his mouth and swallow as he stares at Bill.

“Is that?”

“Yup! I figured you humans were always shoving this stuff into your face holes and I thought you might like some!” Bill places the pizza box down in front of him with what Dipper thinks would be a grin if the demon had his own ‘face hole’. Warmth spreads in the human’s gut.

“Thanks Bill, that was really,” He wants to say ‘sweet’ but stops himself. “Thoughtful.”

“Can’t have you casting these kind of spells on an empty stomach, who knows what havoc it could reap in your inferior human body.” Bill snickers. “Well I do, of course, but you’d have nightmares for a decade if I told you.”

“Please don’t tell me.” Dipper responds reaching into the box and pulling out a slice of the warm cheesy offering. “Thanks Bill, really, this was really nice.”

“No problem Pine Tree, now have you figured out what spell you’re going to do? I find the…” Dipper lets the demon go on as he eats the surprise lunch. Bill occasionally floats the book and flips to different pages, projects visual aids, and generally acts more like a hyperactive teacher than sadistic demon. He doesn’t have any complaints, even with the hearts decomposing sluggishly in his fridge.

Later that night Mabel all but tackles him as he enters their room. She’s wearing her old night shirt with the floppy disk on the front and a pair of Mystery Shack pajama shorts and there’s a manic look in her eyes.

“Did you figure it out?”

“What? Figure what out? The spell? Yeah Bill’s gonna help me do a protection spell tomorrow. It’s pretty powerful when it’s done when harvesting a fresh heart,” he shudders. “But it should still make a pretty good first line of defence, at least when all the windows and doors are shut. No more zombies crashing through the windows.”

“No not that, well kind of that.” Mabel seems to reason with herself for a moment before shaking him firmly by the shoulders. “I’m talking about the fact that Bill keeps giving you hearts!”

“Yeah he keeps bringing me hearts? And?”

“People give each other hearts all the time Dipper! Think about Valentine’s Day!”

“Oh.”

“Oh?” Mabel looks about ready to vibrate out of her skin.

“Oh.”

“Bill’s got a crush on you!”

“Oh.” Dipper doesn’t think he can say anything else but a small smile creeps across his features.

* * *

 

The rest of summer passes in a blur of adventures, dealing with Gideon when he escapes prison, helping Old Man McGucket to legalize his marriage to his raccoon wife (Penny a real charming lady as far as raccoons go), and finding a way to deep freeze the dinosaurs in the abandoned mine shafts. It all goes by in a whirlwind and Dipper is startled to realize they’re loading the car to go back home with their parents. The going away group is similar to last year with only the addition of Pacifica and Mr. and Mrs. McGucket and they do the same song and dance as they do every year only this time Dipper has to share an uncomfortable handshake with Pacifica while Mabel attacks her face. When the time comes and Dipper is ready to climb in the car he turns back towards Bill and after a tense moment, pulls the demon in for a hug.

“I’ll see you in ten months, Dorito.”

“Course you will, Pine Tree, but I’ll see you sooner.”

“You’re always watching?”

“Always.”

* * *

 

“Welcome back, kiddos.” Stan greets them May fourth, ten months later. Dipper’s right arm is covered at this point in tattoos and Mabel has transitioned from skirts to shorts with her brightly colored sweaters. “Hurry up and get in here, you’re getting soaked!”

“Hi Grunkle Stan.” Dipper greets as they step inside and out of the rain.

“Hi Stan!” Mabel hugs the elderly man tightly after dropping her bag at the door. “Where is everyone?”

“Your girlfriend insisted that we have a party to celebrate you coming back, so they’re all setting up in the usual room.” Stan grumbles while hugging back his grand niece.

“Is Bill--?”

“The damn triangle is making a pest of himself with the others.” Dipper and Stan do a quick one-armed embrace while Mabel heads off to greet their friends.

“I’ll take the bags up and be down in a sec.” He says while picking up his sister’s discarded bag.

“Bring her a towel when you come down, her hair is dripping everywhere!” Dipper climbs the familiar steps to the attic and notes that Stan has already remade their beds for them, swept, and dusted the room. He smiles slightly and decides to change clothes before heading downstairs if there’s going to be a party. It takes him a couple of minutes to throw on some dark wash dry jeans and a burnt orange v-neck, which he can finally pull off, after which he grabs a towel from under the bathroom sink to take down to his sister.

As promised everyone is together setting up for the party. Pacifica and Mabel are holding hands in the corner, heads bent close together as they speak, both grinning. Wendy is sitting with Robbie, much to Dipper’s surprise, next to Soos who is hooking up the sound system. Stan seems to be arguing with Bill while ‘helping’ set up the snacks table, while Candy and Grenda take turns blowing up balloons and taking hits off of the helium tank while giggling in abnormally high voices. He walks over to Mabel and drapes the towel over her head, causing her to hiss and flail about.

“Thanks for ruining the moment, Dipper!”

“Hi Pacifica.” He ignores Mabel’s whining.

“Hey Dipper.” The seventeen year old heads off towards the snack table to break up the the squabbling between the oldest members of their party without further preamble.

“If you don’t shut up I’m going to stick you in the salsa!”

“I’d like to see you try Stanford.”

“Hey guys.” Dipper greets, picking up a Dorito and holding it up next to Bill. “What a remarkable likeness.”

“Oh you think you got funny while you were away, don’t you, Pine Tree?” Something in the demon’s tone makes the hairs on his neck stand. “Well then you’ll like this joke, it’s a classic!” Dipper jumps back, covering his ears, as the head that’s always screaming appears in the chip bowl. It shrieks for a moment before disappearing and leaving all of the humans trying to calm their startled hearts while the dream demon laughs.

“Oh yeah Bill, that’s still just so, so funny.” He mutters as he cautiously inspects the chip bowl for any other surprises.

“Did you miss me, kid?” Dipper doesn’t blush when he responds but he also can’t force himself to make eye contact.

“Yeah, it was pretty boring out there.”

“Bleck, get a room.” Stan grumbles from where he’s putting up a sign that states water bottles are ten dollars. “Or better yet do something useful and go get some of the beach towels from the gift shop, seeing you and your sister looking like drowned cats when you came in gave me an idea.” Dipper rolls his eyes.

“Sure thing Grunkle Stan.”

“Take the evil nacho with you.” He does so gladly. Stan’s idea turns out to be selling the towels for fifteen dollars a pop as patrons enter the party dripping wet and is thrilled when he turns a huge profit within the first few minutes. He’s given the twins the night off, being that the party is technically in their honor, while Soos DJs and Wendy sells the overpriced bottles of water. Bill takes off a few minutes into the celebration when too many unfamiliar humans start pouring in and Dipper can’t blame him. It’s bad enough to be called a chip by people who know him, but he imagines it would be worse to be thought of as an inanimate party decoration by people who don’t know he’s an immensely powerful dream demon. Then Mabel challenges him to a dance off and he doesn’t really have a chance to think about Bill for the rest of the night.

* * *

 

There’s one thing that remains unchanged throughout the Pines entire relationship with the demon, whether they’re friends or enemies or if Dipper’s got a giant and possibly mutual crush on him, Bill Cipher is an Asshole. Capital A. When he’s helping, he’s an ass, when he’s just hanging around, he’s an ass, when he’s not around, he’s an ass, and he seems to delight in causing the family strife.

On one memorable occasion he gives Mabel nightmares about killer sweaters for a week and a half which ends up getting her to let Pacifica dress her which means that Pacifica takes her shopping. Dipper has been shopping with Mabel on several occasions and her passion for fashion has been strong since she was old enough to dress herself. She can comb the mall for eight hours without growing tired but when she leaves for a shopping trip with Pacifica on Tuesday she’s MIA until Sunday. Though apparently Pacifica was able to rid the nightmare fueled aversion to her sweaters she still comes home with close to a thousand dollars worth of clothes bought by Pacifica under the veil of belated birthday presents, Christmas presents, and their eighteen month anniversary present. Mabel turns to him with wide eyes, whispers,

“Platinum Credit,” and crawls into her bed face down and promptly falls asleep for the next twenty-six hours. Bill cackles all the while.

The evil Dorito also happens to make small things break all around the Shack for no reason other than to see Stan go red in the face when he realizes that he’ll have to pay to have them fixed. This itself wouldn’t be too bad if not for the fact that every time something breaks it just so happens that Soos needs a new tool for the job, forcing Stan to shell out the extra cash to fix it up. At this point Dipper’s taken to hanging out more in the Author’s old lab instead of the Shack so that Stan won’t ward the building against Bill and so the demon doesn’t spend enough time in the house to get up to any mischief.

Of course that’s not the worst of it, Dipper knows it’s not. Bill’s a demon and he’s always had plans of his own and Dipper knows that someday they’re going to find out what they are and when that day comes he’s fairly certain that the world is going to burn but…. That just seems so far away. Bill was plotting five years ago and the human knows he’s been plotting a lot longer than that. His plans might not even come to pass until long after Dipper and the rest of his family are dead and gone. Or at least that’s what he tells himself when he lies in bed at night looking at the Author’s urgent writing warning him ‘TRUST NO ONE’ and ‘DO NOT SUMMON AT ALL COSTS’. He tells himself that he can tolerate whatever the demon is up to because it’s clear whatever’s been going on between Bill and him, or really Bill and the entire Pines family, is genuine. Bill’s not playing them. He’s not hiding his intentions, he’s not pretending he’s a good guy, he’s just being with them. Dipper thinks with hope choking his heart, that there’s nothing wrong with that.

* * *

 

It’s late on a nondescript June afternoon when Dipper’s sitting on the roof. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and Stan is swindling some tourists out of their money. Dipper just wants to enjoy the sun for once so he sits and looks out at the forest, listening to his Grunkle’s voice rise and fall with false enthusiasm over his junk exhibits while the gullible patrons ooh and ah. It’s peaceful and relaxing and he can feel himself getting sleepy like a fat cat basking in the warmth.

“Hey there, Pine Tree!” Dipper jerks upright with a yelp. “You really shouldn’t fall asleep up here, you could roll right off to your death and that would just be a shame, kid.”

“Jesus Bill, you scared me half to death.” Not that he should really be surprised. Dipper climbs to his feet, shoving the books he’d brought up back into his bag.

“Not quite.”

“I guess you’ll just have to try harder next time.” Dipper snorts.

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Dippin Dots. besides I just want you to be careful. Pine Tree, sitting on the roof is dangerous, you just might fall one of these days.” Bill snaps his fingers and there’s a sharp crack followed by a dull grinding. Before Dipper can even ask what the demon’s done the world drops out from beneath him. He tries to claw at the gutter but his hand swipes past it a moment too late and his stomach sinks as his heartbeat races as he falls into the open air. He doesn’t even scream.

Bill doesn’t let him hit the ground and Dipper’s sure at least in part it’s because he wouldn’t be nearly as interesting as a pancake. The demon snatches him out of the sky by grabbing the back of his shirt and hovers with him for a moment while Dipper’s mind catches back up to him. He’s furious. His hand are shaking his breath is coming in shallow panicked pants and he doesn’t even know what to say. For a minute he wants to scream at the demon, he wants to tell him to fuck off and never come back because he’s a person not a plaything and he can’t just casually toy with his death. But Bill’s a demon and Dipper realizes with a sinking in his gut, that he knew what he was getting into the second he went out to watch the fae being born three summers ago.

“Put me down.” It occurs to him now that Bill’s actually been speaking this whole time but in the cloud of his rage he hadn’t noticed. Dipper doesn’t really care and his demand comes out in clipped syllables. “Bill. Put. Me. Down.” The demon stops mid-sentence and looks down at him before slowly hovering towards the grass.

“You okay, Pine Tree? Geez I forget how fragile you humans are, are you busted?” Bill’s voice is as concerned as it can get and that’s it. That’s just it. Dipper can’t handle this anymore, he can’t just keep doing this. Not after last summer, not after pizza, not after fireworks, not after deer teeth necklaces, not after fairies, not after everything. “Kid?” Bill sounds shocked when Dipper begins to stomp away. “Aw come on kid! I didn’t mean anything!” Dipper makes a hard frustrated noise in the back of his throat and stops walking. He stands unnaturally still for a long moment and Bill goes quiet for once. Then the human spins around and marches back over, crowding into the demon’s space with a black look on his face.

“Vos volo ut oscularetur!” Latin that is not part of an incantation sounds a little heavy and awkward on the teenager’s tongue but he knows Bill understands what he’s said. His heart pounds in his chest and his hands are clenched in fists at his side, and he knows that if the silence lasts he’ll cool off and become embarrassed but right now he doesn’t care. He’s furious, he’s scared, he’s tired, and he’s so very much in love that he can’t breath. Bill smiles in that strange way he does so without a mouth.

“Cur non facere vobis, Pinus?” Dipper’s Latin isn’t great but he understands that sentence perfectly and in the very next second is grabbing the floating triangle by his stupid bowtie and pressing his mouth to where he thinks Bill’s should be. Touching the demon always makes his skin feel like its full of needles and for once he’s happy because it reassures him that he’s awake.

**Author's Note:**

> Flammas devorabit: Flames devour  
> Vos volo ut oscularetur: I want to kiss you  
> Cur non facere vobis, Pinus?: Why don't you, Pine Tree?  
> Also it's technically illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to get a tattoo regardless of parental consent in California but we're just going to ignore that little fact.


End file.
